It is a requirement and responsibility of the Managing Agent to advise the Board on H & S issues. That means ensuring that arrangements and working practices are compliant with current legislation. To achieve this the Managing Agent engaged a highly reputable H & S Consultancy during 2016 to carry out an inspection and report back. When the report was delivered it identified a few minor issues such as securing the swimming pool access door against young children being able to enter the pool without the required supervision. A combination lock at adult height solved that problem.
A really challenging issue that came to light was the safety of our charming Japanese Water Garden. The pond had deep water adjacent to the footpaths running along from the bridge towards the garden gate on the Lindsay Road side. This was posed a significant and very real risk to young children, the elderly and infirm. What to do? The easy part was displaying signs warning of deep water and that children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. The difficult part was the problem of deep water by the path. One option suggested by the consultant was to erect a metre high solid fence around the pond, other options included fencing the area off with lockable gates.
The situation looked so bleak that at one low point the Board did consider actually filling the pond in. But instead the Directors set to work researching and taking expert advice. They came up with a solution which was to shallow the pond in the parts adjacent to the path. The consultant advised this approach could work so the board went out to get the work done. They found a very knowledgeable and experienced pond company who, after some discussion, was awarded the contract. The net result is actually seen as a dramatic improvement to the look of the pond. The shallow areas are stocked with plants and rocks and the big fish actually swim in those areas so that they can now be seen, everyone is so pleased with the result. And critically the H & S Consultant was very impressed. The work was given a pass with honours and now we don’t need a fence or a gate so we can carry on enjoying our lovely pond and actually see more of the fish.
